135 in winter?

[Feyd]

Oh hell yes... I'm actually semi-excited to swap my wheels out again.. LOL.

I've got 17" Blizzak WS60s and LOVE them in the snow.

[KingOfJericho]

ha, looks just like my car in the winter. ASA GT1? Only difference is that I have the Dunlops (which I love).

[Feyd]

GT2 actually.... though I think the finish is the only difference.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by chesterfan1230

I'll try it out next winter! One question though. In my video I was on completely unplowed roads. You sure the roads you took weren't plowed lol?

Yup, not plowed.

Dedicated snow tries are best in snow covered roads, no argument there.
But, once the roads are plowed, or when the roads are clear and cold, or slushy, the all seasons work as ultra hi-po tires. I give up ultimate snow traction but gain the better performance of not having snows for the rest of the winter.

I'm sure on a steep hill, if you and I were both stopped on it and we went, your snow tired car would easily climb much better. The all seasons will have their work cut out, and will take longer to get up the hill.
But, that's part of anticipating and dealing with bad road conditions. You have to know how to use you momentum with RWD.
If I lived in a very hilly area that received a lot of snow regularly in the winter, like up state Michigan for examplef, I would probably get dedicated snow tires. Or, I would actually get an AWD, probably an Audi or Suby.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by Nifty

First off, +1 for the all season tires year round. This is the first RWD car I've had and I was worried that I would have issues in winter. So far though, I'm very happy with my all seasons (I think you have the Conti DWS as well?).

When you said "turn traction control off" do you mean turn DTC on?

Conti DWS, yes.

Actually, I recommend to leave DTC/DSC ON all the time in winter.
I only shut if off if I'm in a snow covered parking lot with no cars, and I want to have some fun.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by ptack

Based on my experience with BMW's and all season tires in winter, I predict major fail. All seasons are not the best at anything and once they wear down they become very bad at critical things such as handling snow. I would recommend replacing them before they get you into an accident.

Well, they worked great this winter. Also, I only have about 6k miles of wear on them now. By this winter I'll have about another 3k.
I think with that low mileage and wear they'll be just fine.
The 3rd winter? I'll see. It'll depend on what wear there is.
That's another reason why I dislike staggered tire setups, no rotation, so you can't even out tread wear.

Most all seasons start with a healthy tread depth.
My many years of experience with all season tires counters your experience, as I've not had a problem at all.
In my E46 I put Pirelli PZero all seasons. I drove that one through 3 winters with those tires, and all was well.
Plus, the Pirelli's were not as good as these Conti DWS, so I think these will work out even better.

Modern all season tires exceed at being very capable at a lot of road traction conditions. That's what they specialize at.
They don't give you 10/10ths in dry hot summer conditions, or 10/10ths in winter. But, depending on the tire, they can give 10/10ths on wet, cold or dry surfaces, and will easily give 80-90% in the summer, and about 70-80% in snow conditions.
For me that's great. One set of tires to cover yearly conditions in the area I drive.

These Conti all seasons actually perform BETTER in the summer than the "summer performance" RFT's.
All seasons can't give 100% of specialized tires in every situation. What they do give is extended capabilities in a number of surface conditions.
That works great, because, one has to decide what one wants in winter driving. We get a LOT of snow in the winter will bone chilling cold temps.
All season have never failed me. Plus, the roads are plowed pretty quickly, so with snow tires I'd have to deal with their lack luster performance in dry cold and wet conditions for about 90% of the winter.
As I said, if I lived in a different area with different conditions I would choose something else.

I learned to drive when pretty much the standard was RWD.
Your biggest safety factor is your winter driving skills.
Don't read that wrong though. Anyone trying to use specialized summer only performance tires in the winter is asking for trouble regardless of skill.
And, that's not just for RWD, but FWD and even AWD.

I do agree that I will reassess the tires before the 3rd winter, and if the wear is that bad, then I'll get a new set of all seasons.
I never drive with worn tires and I very vigilant of tire condition.
Like I tell all my friends and family, the only thing between your car and the road are the tires, so never go cheap or bald.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

I find all season tires to be completely useless on cars like ours. It's the only part of the car that touches the road so my philosophy has always been to never skimp on tires. We have pretty high performance cars so why would you put something on the car that you would find on a Camry? Performance car = performance tires. Summer tires in summer, winter tires in winter. You spent $40k+ on the car, why detract from the performance by being cheap now??

Ultra high performance all seasons, good ones, are far from "cheap".
Take look at Tire Rack prices.
There are people running cheap/er summer performance tires on their high performance cars than what I run.

I certainly don't consider Conti DWS tires as "cheap" in the least.
They are very high quality and high capability for year round use, and far from "useless". My Conti's perform as well in the summer, if not a bit better, and outperform the OEM RFT's in the wet.

You don't find these tires on a Camry, unless the owner bought them aftermarket, in which he made a good decision.
Like summer only tires, all seasons have various levels of quality and capability.

[KingOfJericho]

I understand what you're saying but I will stick to my dedicated summer and winter sets. An all season will not outperform a summer only (good summer only) tire in the dry and only outperforms in the wet because of the deeper tread and will not outperform a true snow tire in the winter so I see the only advantage being the cost savings as you are certainly giving up *some* performance in each season. All season tires are good at everything but great at nothing and for many people that works just fine.

[Hops128i]

Originally Posted by clausy

I live in CT too. Got some Dunlop 3d's. Fine when it's ploughed and there's still snow around. Grip almost as much as the Bridgestone RFT's in the dry. No probs at all last winter. Tire rack, tires with rims was about $1600

I'm looking at the 3d's too, but can't find any info on tread life, do you know?

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

I understand what you're saying but I will stick to my dedicated summer and winter sets. An all season will not outperform a summer only (good summer only) tire in the dry and only outperforms in the wet because of the deeper tread and will not outperform a true snow tire in the winter so I see the only advantage being the cost savings as you are certainly giving up *some* performance in each season. All season tires are good at everything but great at nothing and for many people that works just fine.

I didn't post to change your mind, just to give you some insight as to why some of us choose these tires.

Ultra high performance all seasons can out perform many summer only tires. They won't out perform the ultra high perf or aggressive summer tires. But, some all seasons easily give very high summer performance, more than most drivers will ever exceed on the road.

To say all seasons out perform in the wet "only" due to the deeper thread is trying to make that positive ability superfluous. If it out performs, then it just does, and that's a positive. Tread depth and it's design is important to any tire in regards to it's wet abilities.
The Conti DWS excels in wet conditions, and it's due to it's tread design, and compound. Given how often it is wet in the spring, fall, and often in winter, this ability shouldn't simply be glanced over.

It's not just about cost savings either. Actually, a 2-set setup could end up costing LESS in the long run, because the tires last twice as long.
The added cost is that of a cheap set of winter wheels, and those don't cost too much at all. It's not like most would run a $1000 set of wheels for winter. More like $500 for the wheels.

Let me add a different perspective on tire "compromise":

You say all seasons are a compromise. I'll agree to a point.
In all terms of performance for the season, yes, summer tires are best in summer and winter are best in snow.
But, one has to decided based on how much snow they really get, because if you get snow like we do in the Chicago area, then you're performance is actually less during about 80-90% of the winter. The only time a true snow tire will outperform my all seasons is during a big snow fall, and the 1, maybe 2 days after. The snow gets cleaned very quickly and very soon you are left with simply wet and cold roads, or dry and cold roads.
In those conditions, the all seasons still provide the stiffer sidewall, there is no compromise by going to 17" tires, as many do, in winter with soft and tall sidewalls, and no compromise for the softer squishier winter tread compound that gets too soft if it's get's too warm.

And, there is another additional compromise with a 2 set setup.
When do you change from summer to winter, and then from winter to summer?
If you change in Oct or Nov, you'll encounter many warm dry days where true snow tires lack performance due to the softness of the tread and sidewall. Then, in late winter early spring, when do you change again?
In later Feb onto March and April there are days of extreme cold with potentially heavy snow, but there are also a lot of days when it's warm and the roads are just dry or damp.
There is a good 4 months of not knowing which set to use.

If you switch to snows too early, you have poor performance. If you wait and keep the summers you risk cold and snow, which is dangerous.
In Spring, if you have winters on warm dry days, and if you change to summers too early you risk a dangerous condition, which is MUCH more dangerous than running all seasons all the time.
Aggressive summer compounds do NOT like cold temps at all.

So, yes, all seasons are not as good in summer as dedicated summer only tires. And, all seasons are not as good in the snow as dedicated snow tires. But, for the majority of the year, all seasons are, to me, the best choice and best compromise, as I'm never caught without a tire that can handle the extremes with a decent margin of safety.
To me, a 2 set setup would be a greater compromise.

One has to decide for themselves which way to go, and base it on how much snow there really is in their area, along with the terrain they drive in.
And, let's not exclude driver ability as well. With RWD there is a need for better car control compared to some FWD's and AWD's.
As I said before, if I lived in an area with hills and snowy winters, you bet I'd get a set of dedicated snow tires.

In my area, if I were to do a 2 set method, I would probably go with all seasons for the colder and snowy months, and get an aggressive summer performance tire for the 4-5 months I could really use them.
That way, the all seasons have a good tread depth for when they are needed and the summer wear would be extended by not having to use them for 7-8 months of the year.

But, all seasons have worked great for me since I got my license in 1981, and I've not had a problem getting around safely...well, except for a couple of times when I wasn't paying attention and applied the brakes too late in the snow. Snows would have probably helped in that situation.
Luckily though, my 325i stopped in the nick of time.
The biggest problem in that case was the F*(&(ing ABS more than the all season.
I am NOT a fan of ABS in the snow.